president obama's offering appreciation and prayers for the pope. now he and the first lady have warm memories of their meeting with the holy father in 2009 at the time a spokesman said the pope was very impressed with the president and for his part the president said he looked forward to a very strong relationship between the united states and the vatican. today, the president said in part, quote: the church plays a critical role in the united states and the world and i wish the best of those who will soon gather to choose his holiness pope benedict the xvith successor. house speaker john boehner said the prayers and gratitude of american catholics are with pope benedict xvi today. our team fox coverage continues. "the fox report's" correspondent jonathan hunt with us here tonight from our newsroom. this caught everybody by surprise, didn't it? >> it certainly did, bill. that was the first sentiments expressed by pretty much everybody within the catholic church within the world of catholicism the fact that the pope would resign. second sentiment we